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2022
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Li Shizhen first proposed that gallnuts are made by insects
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The supernatural craftsmanship of nature in creating all things often exceeds people's imagination. I was surprised when I first saw the gallnut on the salt tree, thinking that it was a "strange fruit" grown on the salt tree. In fact, this view was quite common before the Ming Dynasty's Compendium of Materia Medica.
Galla chinensis, included in the Grass Department in the Kaibao Materia Medica of the Northern Song Dynasty, and transferred to the Wood Department in the Jiayou Materia Medica, are both recognized as plants. The "Illustrated Classic of Materia Medica" collects Chinese gallnuts and records them in the grass section: "On the leaves of the raw skin wood, they are strong in July and have no flowers. The wood is green and yellow, but in fact it is green. When it is ripe and yellow, the larger ones are like fists, and there are many insects inside. When the seeds are harvested in September, they are exposed and dried." Although Su Song mentioned the phenomenon of "many insects inside" of Chinese gallnuts, it still does not break away from the definition that Chinese gallnuts are the fruit of plant Rhus chinensis. The understanding of the origin of gallnuts in the "Bencao Chengya Banji", which was written in 1647, was still confused and unclear despite the concept of "not belonging to the fruit". Lu Zhiyi believed that gallnuts "do not belong to insect eggs, do not belong to fruits, this belongs to false wood qi to give shape."
Only in the Ming Dynasty, Li Shizhen further observed and examined on the basis of Su Song's "multiple insects inside" of the Chinese gallnut: "In this woody jungle, there are small insects like ants that feed on its juice in May and June, and in old age, they are left behind, forming small balls between the leaves, just like when they were very small at the beginning, gradually growing strong, and big like fists. Or like small Ling, they have round and long shapes. At the beginning, they were green, but over time, they are fine yellow, embellished on the branches and leaves, as if they were formed." Based on this, Li Shizhen first proposed that although previous scholars knew that the Chinese gallnut was born on the skin wood, they did not know that it was made by insects. This overturned the traditional understanding that the Chinese gallnut was a plant fruit and included it in the insect part of the Compendium of Materia Medica.
Chinese gallnuts have long been wild and wild, mainly derived from wild double forests. This habit is consistent with Li Shizhen's description of "those living in this woody jungle... forming small balls between leaves.". When the salt skin tree sprouts in spring, the horned aphid or egg aphid (small insects such as ants) produce sexual male and female wingless aphids on the buds. After sexual intercourse, wingless females are born, commonly known as stem females. Stem females (possibly referred to as "leftover species" by Li Shizhen) invade the tissue inside the buds, stimulate the abnormal proliferation and development of peripheral leaf cells, form sac-shaped protrusions (forming small balls between the leaves), and reproduce in them. This cystic protrusion is called a galls, or galls. This type of female insect is housed in a sealed sac like protrusion, where it sucks the juice from tender branches and leaves to feed itself while giving birth to offspring. As the larvae grow from few to many, from larvae to adults, this sac like protrusion continues to grow. When the larvae all grow into winged adults, they can break through the sac and emerge, which is what Shi Zhen said, "Insects must wear out.". So the correct harvesting and processing method for Chinese gallnuts was established: "Before the frost falls, the mountain people take it and steam it to kill the goods."
Li Shizhen's observation and description are already very close to the biological origin of modern Chinese gallnuts, which was indeed a breakthrough in the understanding of the origin of Chinese gallnuts over 400 years ago.
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